I was setting up some Indian boxes in the kitchen this morning, and as my roommates went back and forth getting ready for work they kept exclaiming how nice everything looked. Here're some pictures!

Turmeric and mukhwas (the red candied stuff) are both so photogenic!

Class has been great so far! I'll give you a recap, then we'll talk about shipments and such.

First week was Ethiopian, where we covered what all of those mysterious stews actually are. Secret tip: when you're passing around amazing spices for people to sample, don't scare them by telling them the spice is super spicy! "Delicious with a touch of heat" is definitely a better ploy.

Next class we did Thai and looked at stir-frying, curries and noodle dishes. The big part about Thai food, I think, is that curries are a quick and easy way to take care of pretty much anything hanging around your fridge. We're members of a CSA that has been dumping squash on us with reckless abandon, and making red curry is the only reason we're able to get rid of it!

Tomorrow is Korean, so kimchi's the order of the day. Along with that is my maxim of Everything Can Be Pancaked, which is absolutely true. Kimchi pancakes, cabbage+seafood pancakes, chickpea flour + onion pancakes - I know it isn't all Korean, but savory pancakes are a great quick route to an easy meal.

So now, your stuff! I got hit with a pretty big bummer when I started going in search of Ethiopian spices - turns out every Ethiopian grocer in NYC has closed over the last few years, so I was out of luck locally. I hate buying spices on the internet, so it's been a long wait to get some brought up to me from DC (which has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Ethiopia!). I had enough from my last trip down to make the dishes for my class, but saddling you with 6-month-old ground spices wouldn't be cool at all.

The upside to this, though, is that the extra time helped me realize what I could be doing with Cooking Class in a Box - instead of tossing everything in plastic bags I've ordered a ton of nice metal tins for your spices, and will be putting this together as a test run for doing CCIAB as a real live business (so it should be pretty quality!). I'm guessing another week or two before it all comes together.

If you have any questions or suggestions about what you'd like to see in the box, feel free to email me at soma@brooklynbrainery.com or add a comment onto this post. Thanks for being so patient!